VIA Rail Canada posting personnel at troublesome crossing locations

Personnel from VIA Rail Canada will be monitoring the grade crossing area located near Fallowfield Station in Ottawa, Ontario, following several reports of faulty signals. The area encompasses the crossings at Fallowfield Road, Woodroffe Avenue and the OC Transpo Transitway.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson estimates the crossing has experienced faulty signals at least eight times in the past three months. The transitway crossing located on the east side of the station was the scene of a deadly crash between a VIA Rail train and OC Transpo bus in September 2013.

Via Rail said in a statement that beginning Friday, April 4 and until further notice, personnel will be attending the aforementioned locations, 24 hours per day, seven days a week. These workers will (1) monitor the function of the automatic warning devices, (2) take necessary measures to ensure public safety in the case a device goes into fail-safe mode and (3) make necessary repairs, if needed.

VIA Rail said safe and secure train operations are the foundation of everything it does and reaffirmed its commitment to safety of its operations for its passengers, employees and the public.